


Identity Document

by Runespoor



Category: DCU, DCU - Comicverse
Genre: Gen, Robins meeting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-03-27
Updated: 2011-03-27
Packaged: 2017-10-17 07:57:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,035
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/174611
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Runespoor/pseuds/Runespoor
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A dark alleyway, a gang of thugs, a victim who won't be victimized, Batman.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Identity Document

**Author's Note:**

> Set during Battle for the Cowl.

He launches himself down into the alley, with the weird impression of going back to basics somehow – half a dozen assholes ganging up on a blond girl, that's a movie he's already seen – kicks out once, twice as he leaps down, and that's two down for the night – turns around and feels the cape sweep – damn, but that's _good_ in a way he hadn't imagined it would be – had never had much use or regret for the Robin cape, but this one – big and heavy, still not as heavy as Bruce's though, he'd bet – hey fucker with the big knife, why aintcha running?

He catches the pang of his cape and throws it at the man and _yanks_ – and clank goes the knife on the ground and the poor moron is blinking at his empty hand for the exact _zilch_ it takes Jason to knock him out – and he lets the cape fall back down and turns around, there were six men and he's planning on bringing all six of them to justice if he has to chase them through all Gotham, no _mugging teenage girls_ on his streets, and--

The girl is slamming an enthusiastic fist into the man's jaw, and follows it with a beautifully _vicious_ spinning kick behind his knees, and he crumples down with a groan. The other two guys are already out cold, in a pile that suggests they partly took each other with ill-advised attacks on a girl who knows a lot about fighting and who is now staring straight at him.

“Huh,” she says.

I think that's my line, he thinks of telling her, but fortunately keeps his mouth from blurting it out.

Her face shows a measure of wariness, and her shoulders are tense, but she mostly looks curious. And not nearly as winded as the average teenager who just got assaulted by muggers before being rescued by Gotham's own dark knight.

She could've taken them. She doesn't have a scratch on her – just reddened knuckles and birds nests in the place of her ponytails.

She also looks far from as terrified and/or dumbstruck and/or grateful (and Jason's honest with himself, it's not like he never played with such a scenario before) in the face of Batman – c'mon, _Batman_ – than Bruce ever let on. (Okay, the 'grateful' thing was mostly directed toward Robin, but still. There _had_ to have been offers.)

“You're not bad,” he tells her, because that's the truth, and because he can't think of the silence stretching, and because Batman knows the fight was over in a matter of seconds and needs to know who is this girl if she is anyone at all.

The words feel strange in Batman's voice.

Any word Jason speaks in Batman's voice feels strange; it's a different voice from the one he hears when he thinks of Batman.

The girl doesn't fidget, even though she obviously wants to, and her fingers only twitch and she doesn't drop her position – defensive, and more than that, _ready_ – and Jason reassesses his judgment. She's _good_. Or, actually—

“Who trained you?” he asks before she can make her mind about which question she wants to ask first. The tone is a little more right. The voice is still all wrong.

And _now_ she shifts back on her feet, and – okay. Jason knows that position. Knows it very, very well. Used to assume it a lot himself, before he got big enough that it started encumbering him instead of giving him an edge on his opponents. One of the first he was taught, basic and easy and efficient and required so much practice to get it _best_ that sometimes he still takes it.

Blond girl.

“You did. Or he did, whatever,” she replies with an expression of 'Dude, what the hell?' at the same moment as he realizes who she is.

He never had the opportunity to watch her, of course, and Bruce's protected files are so beyond his computer skills he wouldn't have been able to access them without the password even from the Batcomputer, let alone from outside the Cave, but keeping his family history straight has been high on his priority list ever since he came back.

Family history is what got him killed the _first_ time, so damn if he's gonna make the same mistake twice (he's not, he knows he's not. This time he intends on being prepared).

“You're not going to tell me what's going on, huh?” It both is and isn't a question. There's a lot in that 'you'. Frustration and, heh... familiarity.

And Jason wants to grin, wants to assure her that sure he will, but the mask keeps him from doing so. This girl... Jason doesn't know her, only knows of her, and _she_ knows Batman. She's Batman's responsibility. Even more than anything else that happens in Gotham.

She's good, and Jason knows that, but Batman will try to protect her before he tries to use her. And Bruce...

Bruce never gave up on the past, even when Jason would've blown up his city to prove him that he _should_.

“Why don't you tell me what you got,” he says and he's surprised to realize that he knows this question from the outside, from when Bruce never stopped training him. “Robin,” he adds in the most bored tone he can conjure, even though he means it as a challenge, even though there's really only the cowl and Batman to conceal his glee.

She has the same obviousness of expression as Dick. The glare and scowl she directs at him, though, is-- Jason wishes he'd have been able to get his info on her from someone in the family. Wishes he'd seen Bruce's files.

“ _You_ fired me,” she accuses. “ _Batman_.”

And now Jason wants to grin and the cowl wants him to as well. It comes out more contained - concentrated - than he's used to, but it's still blade-sharp and sinister and pleased. Batman's smiles always mean that someone is about to get hurt, or they're because of Robin, and _this_ one is right in _both_ ways.

“I don't think it works that way.”

She looks puzzled for a moment. Then she smiles back.


End file.
